Abstract:
The study sought to provide empirical evidence on students’ academic performance
from the perspective of parental socio-economic status in order to provide insight to
address the complex and pervasive problem of poor academic performance of school
children. The purpose of this study was to determine how parental socio-economic
status influences students’ academic performance in Junior High Schools in the
Ekumfi District in the Central Region. The study adopted the convergent parallel
design based on the mixed-methods approach (which is qualitative biased). Through
the use of purposive and stratified random sampling techniques, 140 participants
made of students, teachers and parents were selected as samples for the study. The
researcher used questionnaire, interview schedule and documents as instruments for
data collection. The findings revealed that most parents in the Ekumfi District had
larger families, low educational background and low income, which affected the
educational performance of students. The study concludes that the lower the level of
education and income of parents; the lower the academic performance of children in
basic schools. The study also concludes that, the larger the family size, the lower the
academic performance of children in basic schools. Based on these, the study
recommends, among other things, that, in order to increase children’s performance in
basic schools, it is critical that policymakers and stakeholders fortify adult education
as a pre-requisite for high academic performance of basic school children. The study
also recommends that, it is critical for every parent to be in serious contact with
teachers regarding their children's academic challenges.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Social Studies Education,
Faculty of Social Sciences Education, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Social Studies Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba.
